Frank soper



(No Mogiel.)

I. SOPER. ORB UONCENTRATOR.

No. 552,931. Patented Jan. 14; 1896.

ATTORNEY ANDREW BXiRMiAM.PHOTOUW'IQWASNINEYDN. D C

UNITED STATES PATENT Orricn,

FRANK SOPER, Ol DENVER, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO NELSONOQMCCLEES.

ORE-CONCENTRATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 552,931, dated anuary14, 1896.

Application filed December 1, 1893. Serial No. 492,555. (No model) Toall whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK SorER, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Denver, in the county of Arapahoe and State ofColorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inOre-Concentrators; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the figures ofreference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in ore-concentrators; and itconsists of the fea tures, arrangements and combinations hereinafterdescribed and claimed, all of which will be fully understood byreference to the accompanying drawings, in which is illus trated anembodiment thereof.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improvedconstruction. Fig. 2 is a central longitudinal section taken through themechanism.

Similar reference characters indicate corresponding parts or elements ofthe mechanism in both views.

Let the numeral 5 designate a sluice-box provided with transverseriffles 5. To one extremity of the box 5 is attached another box 6,having its bottom downwardly inclined from the extremity adjacent thesluice-box and covered by a screen 6 of any desired mesh, which occupiesa position parallel with the bottom of the box. The lower extremity ofthe box 6 is partly closed, as shown at 6 and provided with an inclinedprojection 6, which forms, in connection with the part 6, a V-shapedreceptacle for the coarser part of the gangue or waste that is rejectedby the screen 6*. The box is provided with transverse stops 6, whoseextremities are slipped into grooves formed in those portions of thesides of the box which project above the screen. These stops do notengage the screen, there being a space underneath orbetween the loweredges and the surface of the screen.

The distance of the stops above the screen varies, that which isuppermost, or nearest the sluice, being farthest from the screen, whilethe next one below is nearer, and so on, the lowest, or that farthestfrom the sluice, being closest to the screen. The function of thesestops is to prevent the screens from clogging. They check the flow ofthe water discharged from the sluice, and this water being suddenlyarrested in its course and partly confined be tween the screen and thestop its force will be expended downward in opening the meshes of thescreen, if they have become clogged. Hence by means of this simpleexpedient the screen is automatically kept cleaned and its meshes freefrom obstruction. W'ithout these stops the screen is liable to becomeclogged at any time, in which event all the material from the sluicewould be lost, since it would pass over the screen.

The box 6 is provided at itslowerextremity with an opening 6 throughwhich the material passes to another box 7, having its bottom continuousand upon the same incline as the bottom of the box 6 above. This box isclosed at its lower end by a wall of greater height than the side wallsand provided with an outlet pipe or nozzle 8, having a valve controlledby a rod 9 projecting upward above the box and shaped at its upperextremity to adapt it for hand use.

Below the box '7, and so located as to receive the material dischargedfrom the nozzle 8, is another box 10 provided with a series of Verticalpins 12 irregularly arranged, and extending between the top and bottomof the box, which occupies a horizontal position, the top and bottombeing parallel. The box 10 is open at the top, as shown at 10, to receive the discharge from the outlet 8 of box 7.

The pins are round in cross-section from top to bottom, and by theirform and the construction of the box the water carrying the finer gangueis carried down between them, while the mineral sinks to the bottom ofthe box.

The box 10 is further provided with a vertically movable gate 13controlled by a threaded rod 14 which passes through. acorrespondingly-threaded opening formed in the supporting-frame 15. Thefunction of this gate is to cause the box to fill evenly from one end tothe other with mineral. Hence the gate is raised from time to time toaccomplish this purpose. Below the box 10 is another box 6 which isexactly the same as that adjoining the sluice 5, except that the screenof the box 6 connected with the box 10 is of somewhat finer mesh, forobvious reasons. \Vith this exception, the mechanism below the box 10 issimply a duplication or repetition of that above, and it may be carriedto any extent desired.

The material to be treated is discharged, together with the necessaryquantity of water, into the'riffled sluice 5, the object of the rifiiesbeing to catch the nuggets or largest parts of the mineral, the balancebeing discharged upon the screcn 6 of the box 6. The water and themineral will pass through this screen, while the coarser part of thegangue will pass over the screen into the \/-shaped trough at the end ofthe box.

The material which passes through the screen comes in contact with theinclined-bot tom of the box and passes thence through the opening (3into the box 7, which may be called the overflow-box,since only a smallportion of the water which enters the box passes out through the nozzle8. The greater portion of this water overflows from the box, or passesover the side walls, which are of less height than the end wall thereof,carrying with it the lighter and finer gangue which passed through thescreen 6, while the mineral settles to the bottom of the box and isdrawn off through the nozzle 8, passingthence into the box containingthe pins. It is in this box that the mineral is collected and saved. Theportion of this box 10 nearest the box 7 would naturally fill first.Hence if it Were not for the gate 13 the surface of the min-.

eral in that box would form an incline, highest at the receivingextremity of the box and tapering to nothing at the opposite extremity;and as soon as a small amount of. mineral had collected in the box thisinclined surface would cause that which entered afterward to pass downthis incline and escape, and the box would cease to retain any mineralbeyond a certain small amount. To overcome this difficulty, I haveprovided the box 10 with the gate 13, which may be said to bebeyond thepins, since they are all located between the receiving extremity of thebox and this gate. The gate 13 passes through the to end.

mineral before it is necessary to clean up or remove its contents. 7

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is 1. The combinationof the sluice box with transverse riffies; a succeeding steeply inclinedscreen having graded, transverse stops an open lower end and atransverse trougi1 shaped receptacle thereat for the coarser gangue; andan open-top overflow box having a steeply inclined bottom continuousWith that below the screen, and a valved outlet at its lower end, andhaving its end wall or greater height than its side walls, wherebylateral overflow of the water carrying lighter impurities is permitted.

2. In an oreconeentrator the combination of the overflow box open at thetop and having an inclined bottom and an outlet for the mineral, of ahorizontal box adapted to receive the mineral from the overflow box, and

provided with pins and a vertically movable gate passing through thebottom. of the box and adapted to be gradually raised from the bottom tothe top of the box, substantially as described.

3. In an ore concentrator, the combination of the inclined box havingthe screen, and the graded transverse stops located. in suitableproximity to the screen, the box having an overflow and having aninclined bottom on the same inclined plane as the screen box and anoutlet nozzle for the mineral, controlled by a suitable valve, and thehorizontal box having the pins, and the gate adapted to project belowthe bottom thereof, whereby the discharge extremity of the box may begradually closed as the mineral accumulates in the box, substantially asdescribed.

4. In an ore concentrator the combination of the inclined box having ascreen and the graded transverse stops located in suitable proximity tothe screen, the box having an overflow and having an inclined bottom onthe same inclined plane as the screen box and an outlet nozzle for themineral controlled by asuitable valve, and the horizontal box with pinsextending from top to bottom and a gate projecting below the bottom ofthe box and adapted to be gradually raised as the mineral accumulates inthe box, substantially as described.

Intestimony whereof I affix my signaiu re in the presence of twowitnesses.

FRANK SOPER. lVitnesses G. J. RoLLANnnr, CHAS. E. DAWSON.

